


visible light spectrum

by beckawrites



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, Fluff, canon compliant kind of?, rated for koga's potty mouth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:48:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27233737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beckawrites/pseuds/beckawrites
Summary: wolves weren't always colorblind.
Relationships: Higurashi Kagome/Kouga
Comments: 12
Kudos: 74





	visible light spectrum

**Author's Note:**

  * For [monophobian](https://archiveofourown.org/users/monophobian/gifts), [PointyObjects](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PointyObjects/gifts), [Madison](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Madison/gifts), [cryysis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cryysis/gifts), [commandercrouton](https://archiveofourown.org/users/commandercrouton/gifts), [Sukiya62](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sukiya62/gifts), [OrpheusUnderneath](https://archiveofourown.org/users/OrpheusUnderneath/gifts), [SnapbackPirat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SnapbackPirat/gifts), [UntappedChaos](https://archiveofourown.org/users/UntappedChaos/gifts), [PenelopeBarnes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PenelopeBarnes/gifts), [Lilly_White](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilly_White/gifts).



Wolves weren’t always colorblind. They were born that way, yes, and some died that way. But not always.

Koga, despite being an alpha, despite being the one who was supposed to _know things_ and _take care of everyone_ , had never seen a proper color in his life.

He learned to distinguish shades, the same way all pups were taught, and how different things all had different smells. It didn’t matter if he didn’t know what blue and blackberries actually looked like, he could smell them. It didn’t matter that the color of his mother’s eyes was one he’d never be able to name, or that all skies had the same hue. He could smell a thunderstorm before it began, and he could find his mother even miles away. The slightest movement in the trees, in the grass, was detectable because even if he couldn’t see color, his eyes worked _just fine_ , thank you _very_ much.

He had given up on colors, on the concept of them and the dream of them, before he had ever given himself a chance to wish they were there.

* * *

Being an alpha meant that it was Koga’s job to take care of his entire pack. Always. He was young, and reckless, and battle-happy, but these were his people. He would be damned if anything happened to them on his watch, and not just because he had something to prove.

Of course something happened.

Losing pack wasn’t like losing family; it was closer to losing an entire limb. There was an absence, less of a pain and more of a void, a hole where their beating heart once was, attached to his own. He was certain that he would not forget this, not for as long as he lived; he wanted nothing more than for that ache to stay holed in his chest, a reminder of his failure, of his need to do better, to _be_ better.

The void ached for vengeance. Or maybe it was his own rage. Pain had a way of forming into other things, of melding with aches that were more familiar to deal with. Guilt, loss, they fueled a fire because Koga could stomach anger easier than he could heartbreak.

Forgiveness was a laughable concept. For himself, and for whatever poor bastard had done this to his brothers and sisters. Death was never in vain, not for warriors, not for wolves.

The stench of dog, of some filthy mutt that should have never existed in the first place, burned itself in his nostrils. Whoever that smell belonged to, Koga would make sure that it would be too full of blood, of rotting flesh and pain and _death_ , to ever be found again.

* * *

Koga had always been fast. It was just one of his many great gifts, along with his stellar leadership, excellent ability to strategize, and incredible tracking skills. He was the alpha because he was the best, and he was going to show that to whoever had dared to lay a hand on his pack and think they could survive to tell the tale. It was like the rage inside him, the fire that burned deep in his chest, lit under his feet. He was faster than he had ever been in his life, tracking whatever fucking _dog_ it was that incised his rage in the first place.

As the smell got closer, oddities started to creep in the corners of Koga’s vision. He ignored them, thought that it was just the world whipping around in his frenzy, that things were blurred and looked different just because he was moving faster than he could breathe. The stupid fucking dog was _so close_ , and he was so focused, so hell-bent in his pursuit, that everything else seemed to turn into background noise. Things barely registered, including the four other scents he was nearing.

One of them should have stuck out to him. One of them, and the strange things tugging at the corners of his vision, should have _meant something_ , but all he could think was _dog_ and _rage_ and _revenge_ that nothing else seemed to matter.

And then he stopped. He stopped and looked and suddenly _everything else mattered_.

Nothing looked the same. Except, it did, somehow, it did and didn’t. Koga was never going to be able to explain it, not when he was so focused on something else, not when this felt inconsequential as hell to what he needed to actually fucking do. There was a headache building behind his eyes, now, when nothing was distinguishable by shade and everything was so much more _vibrant_ and yeah, headache. There it was.

“How _dare_ you!” Anger had a bitter taste, he knew, but something about these words dripped in more venom than he had ever known in his life. And he had literally, accidentally, ingested snake venom before.

“You reek of human blood! How many have your dogs killed?” Did that mutt honestly think that he could speak to him at all? Let alone _like that_ , like if he had any room for judgement in his miserable existence? It only made Koga’s blood boil, only made him feel justified in his desire, his _need_ , to rip this idiot mutt limb from fucking limb.

He scoffed. He wondered if his anger was as visible as he felt it was; like a cloud surrounding him, swallowing him whole like the dust tornados he kicked up whenever he ran.

All of his focus was on the idiotic beast before him, the fight laid out; he wanted to destroy, to rip and tear, to fucking ruin. He _had_ to, it far surpassed want. There was a hollow space in his chest, shaped like all the underlings that this mutt-brained piece of shit murdered so blindly, and for what? For the lives of some puny fucking humans?

Though, he supposed that the mutt had a softness for them, considering his heritage. And the fact that he seemed to run with so many of them.

If Koga wasn’t so empty, if that empty space wasn’t so full of vengeance and disgust and rage, he would have realized why one of those human scents should have stood out to him; should have meant something more than ‘a girl the murderer is hanging out with’.

“Inuyasha!” A shriek cut through the fight and Koga barely paid it any mind, until he heard “he has three shards! One in each leg and his arm!”

… _Oh._

A human who would see sacred jewel shards? That seemed to be worth something, especially if he wanted more of them, so that he could be the best alpha the wolf demons had ever known.

There wasn’t a chance in hell that he was going to let this fucking murderous mutt have that advantage over him.

Battle was something of Koga’s specialty. Speed and strength and forethought- all things he excelled in, if he did say so himself. He knew that this fucking dog, this blight in the existence of demons, wasn’t going to be nearly as good as he was. But he was putting up something of a fight anyway, as much as Koga was loathe to admit it. He knew, though, that his rage would win out; his bone-deep need for revenge, the fact that he would do anything so that his wolves, his pack, didn’t have their blood spilt for nothing; that he couldn’t protect them _for nothing_. He was going to win, he was going to-

Retreat.

“Something’s not right,” he felt himself saying, a shift in the air, a change in scent, in aura. That sword was something else entirely, a beast Koga had no idea how to fight. It had to be magic, of some kind, and how the hell did that mutt get his hands on that? What did he do to deserve a sword that was more powerful than even the one Koga himself possessed?

It was too dangerous. As much as Koga was a lot of things, he wasn’t stupid. Or didn’t think he was. He wasn’t going to get into this fight and not know, with endless certainty, that he could win. Alphas lived to fight another day, even if his pride, his fury, was telling him that he couldn’t. But he was a leader, a real and proper one now, and he had others to take care of. Revenge could wait until he had a better plan.

Until he had more jewel shards, until he understood his enemy better. Because that was what a good leader did: they learned, they got better, they won. Removing himself from the situation was the only way to do that, even if he could hear the way they were talking about him as he ran back to the mountains.

If it was a real fight this idiotic mutt wanted, he would get it, just as soon as Koga knew how to win.

And he was taking the jewel-shard girl with him.

It was instantaneous. The moment he stood still, he realized just why everything was different and the same; why his headache was a fuzzing pain at the edges of his vision, and why his vision had shifted. Every single shade of color he was seeing, was because of _her_. This girl in front of him, with some strange power he had never known. She could _see_ the shards in his legs and his arm. How was that even possible? Just what the hell was she? He knew color stemmed from her, he knew that she was vibrancy and vitality, but this was the last thing he would have expected.

Though, of course his soulmate would have some extraordinary ability like that. He expected nothing less from the woman who was supposed to be a part of him, the person who was going to make him better for the rest of their lives.

He reached out for her, and she flinched. It took him a second, a glance at his knuckles and claws, to realize why.

So. Blood was…red? Red. He knew that, he had been told what that shade was before, but there was something entirely different seeing it on his own hands. And is that what blue looked like, he thought, when he saw the color of her eyes. That was supposed to be the same color as the sky, his mother had taught him, but there was something more precious, something indescribable about it. He wondered if she would let him drown in that color.

Kagome. _Kagome_. He thought the color of the sky should be changed to her name.

“I’m gonna make you my woman.”

Never say that Koga wasn’t direct about what he wanted.

And never, ever say that he wasn’t afraid to go _after_ it, too.

* * *

In Koga’s life, he had met plenty of soulmate pairs. His own parents had been, and it was his mother who taught him everything she could about color, to a son who only saw things in varying shades of clouds and mountains, snow piles and forests at midnight. He didn’t know if he could ever stand to go back to a world like that, after he had seen everything that color had to offer.

But in all his years of knowing soulmate pairs, he had never, _ever_ heard of half of that pair being so stubborn, so _resistant_. Wasn’t she- wasn’t _Kagome_ supposed to be seeing the world in color, too? Wasn’t this supposed to be a joyous occasion for them both, where they realized they were meant to be and-

She slapped him. Directly across the face.

The only reason he hadn’t been able to stop it was because he hadn’t seen it coming.

There was a growl threatening to rumble in his chest as she spoke to him, so much authority, so much _disdain_ , in her tone that he was having trouble figuring out where her tiny body was fitting it all. The thought was distant and amusing, settled whatever furious thing threatened to lean up and snatch at the strange mix of confusion and elation that was settling in his chest.

Fury could wait. Fury overtook him and he almost missed her because of it, and he wouldn’t let it scare her away. She was a human-

His soulmate was a _human_. And logically, yes, he knew that when he first smelled her. He knew because demons had a particular aura, a scent that was meant to invoke danger, or at least be mildly threatening, to those around them. Humans did not have that. Humans smelled like prey, humans had soft auras and more weak spots than any demon in their right mind would ever leave exposed.

The girl in front of him was all soft spots.

This was his soulmate?

He was starting to understand her apprehension, now.

“You can’t just go around- _kidnapping people_ \- who do you think you are?” There was an edge of hysteria in her voice, she must’ve realized he had stopped listening; he was trying to come to terms with…several things at once. And his headache was back. And his vengeance was nowhere to be found, apparently. Fuck.

This time, when she went to slap him again, his hand caught her wrist before it could even start coming towards him. Feisty. Maybe she was meant to be his soulmate after all. If she was brave enough to slap an alpha… _twice_. And he couldn’t stop looking at the color of her eyes. His mother had said that his eyes were blue, too, and he believed her. But he didn’t think that anything could ever match Kagome’s.

It was like looking right into flame, bright and burning, her cheeks red and her small hands shaking. He could not believe that there may have been a version of this life where he died never seeing this.

“I’m Koga, alpha of the northern wolf tribe. And you’re my-“

“I am _not_ your woman, mister alpha-of-the-northern-wolf-tribe, as if that’s supposed to mean _anything_ to me!” Her wrist wrenched itself from his grip, and that furious thing was in his chest again, unfortunately. He didn’t want it there. He was starting to get used to the strange happiness, headache be damned. Human or not, she was certainly _something_. “Touch me again,” she threatened, and Koga could not for the life of him recall the last time he was _ever_ threatened, much less by a _human_ , “and you will be sorry, buster.”

Oh, he _definitely_ liked her.

Her tiny hand was pointing a finger in his face, an attempt at being threatening when he really just thought she looked like a bunny rabbit. Cute, amusing, devourable. She had a hell of an arm on her, but he’d been dealt worse blows ever since he was old enough to fight.

“Kagome,” her name was honey on his tongue, tasted something like it was meant to be there all his life, “what color are my eyes?”

The flush on her cheeks darkened, and a certain kind of pride swelled up in Koga’s chest, mixing in with that odd, confused kind of elation, melting his headache away as the emotions coursed through him. She was the most beautiful creature he had ever laid eyes on, and it wasn’t just because her eyes were blue, or her cheeks were red; her aura, the power and attitude and _fire_ in those blue eyes, made her stand out more than her strange green-and-white clothing ever could. Those eyes of hers widened and Koga had only ever been to the sea once, but he thought that maybe this was what it was like, when you were being swallowed whole by it.

“I don’t know.”

Koga had no idea how easily three small words could make everything come crashing down around him.

He heard the soft gasps of his pack around him, whispers of ‘ _Koga can see in color?’_ and ‘ _but she’s a_ human’, but it was background noise compared to her response, buzzing, not like bees, but like wasps; bees died after the first sting, but this continued to pierce, to prick at his mind, his heart, until he thought he might become numb. Venom wasn’t supposed to hurt him, but here he was, that snarling, furious thing reduced to whimpers, elation wiped from his mind-

Wait.

She was _lying_.

Relief washed over him, like he’d stepped under his waterfall and all the poison went downstream. This blue-eyed wonder was lying, he knew- that meant that he wasn’t wrong, that he was just as much hers as she was his. The whimpering beast in his chest howled, that happiness nearly flooring him as it came flooding back.

The only thing he couldn’t seem to figure out was _why_. What did she gain from lying to him, when she must know he could tell? Did she think she had anything to _lose_ , besides dead weight of those people he left in his dust?

“Hey!” Fingers snapped in his face, and he was brought back, and oh, there was that little edge of hysteria in her voice again. Kagome really was so pretty when she was angry, and he had half a mind to tell her so, but she spoke before he could even open his mouth. “I don’t know why you’re asking me about colors, but I _demand_ to know why you kidnapped me!”

She kept saying that. Kidnapping. As if he wasn’t simply bringing her home.

“I need you.” Koga was nothing if not honest, and straightforward, and he meant what he said. He needed her in his life, now, knowing that she was the one that brought on a whole new perspective; knowing that she was meant to be here; knowing that she was worth more than anything. But her breath caught in her throat, and the thought of scaring her away seemed enough to halt his own breathing, so he added: “You can see jewel shards. I need you to find more for me. Starting with the Birds of Paradise.”

* * *

Everything about her was like a wolf. She was loyal, and she was fierce, she defended her friends and stood up to him while doing so. Going into battle with her was like nothing he ever experienced, a cohesion he had never felt, not even with pack members he had been fighting alongside since they were old enough to hold a sword in their hands. He felt it deeply in his bones, that she was his match. It filled the empty thing in his chest, somewhat; the edges of the gaping pain were softened, shrunk, because of finding her. There was no one else he could imagine leading the pack with him, spending the rest of his life with, having _pups_ with.

But there was the issue of that goddamn mutt. Because of course, not only did that miserable creature kill members of his pack, but he was keeping Koga from his soulmate, on top of everything. How was he supposed to allow himself to come in second to someone that was only _half_ of everything Koga could ever be? It didn’t make any sense.

Kagome made sense; her scent that he could trace for miles made sense; the rhythm of her heartbeat that he could hear over any other sound made sense. Her laugh, a question he could spend forever answering, made sense.

There was no way some stupid dog would ruin his chances.

Never in his life did Koga think he would have to work this hard for someone he was _supposed_ to be with. And maybe he didn’t believe in fate before, but the way her eyes lit up when he presented her with flowers, the way he could smell happiness coming off her like dandelion petals in a breeze, how was he meant to believe that this woman was anything but made for him to love?

He wouldn’t force her to abandon her pack, no matter how that strange, angry thing snarled in his chest every time he had to leave her. But he wasn’t above making her miss him, letting his hands engulf hers for a moment longer than they needed to, almost stealing a kiss when the mutt wasn’t watching. Koga wasn’t a cheater, per say, he liked to think he had plenty of honor and dignity, but…soulmates knew each other, didn’t they? He knew how to make that heartbeat, a sound so familiar to him within moments of hearing it, kick-drum in her chest with just a grin, a flash of fang. It wasn’t cheating. It was playing to his strengths.

* * *

Vengeance against the dog seemed to fall to nothing, when vengeance against a common enemy consumed him. Not only did he lose more family, more _pack_ , but he was humiliated; fooled, made a fool of. Koga was supposed to _protect_ , he was supposed to lead and endure, and bodies kept falling. Youth was no excuse for these mistakes. He had to keep his pack safe.

He had to keep _Kagome_ safe.

Working alongside that stupid dog and his strange, hodgepodge group made that thing in his chest howl, seethe with pride, but she was the only thing that ever kept it from taking over. Whatever it took to make sure she stayed alive long enough to choose him, long enough to realize, to _accept_ , that he was the right choice, he would endure it. He would endure a beast in his chest, an arrow in his back, broken bones and a heart that felt like it was caught in the jaws of a starving animal every time he saw them together.

Alphas protected. Alphas led. Alphas _endured_.

Victory guaranteed her safety. Victory meant that the best thing to come out of this hell, the one thing that made the wide hole in his chest feel something like full, that made the snarling, angry thing quiet, would be able to stay alive, stay with _him_.

* * *

The world without her was torture. He had no idea what happened, or how, but one moment everything was vibrant and beautiful and alive, and then suddenly, he was back to before her; before that day where things stopped looking like stormy skies and pots of ink, banks of snow and mountain walls. If he could still see colors, everything that day would have existed in shades of red.

The only thing that brought him any comfort was knowing she hadn’t fucking _died_.

* * *

Five-hundred years. She could travel back and forth between five-hundred years, because of the sacred jewel. It didn’t make any sense, but then again, Kagome was always something different; she was fierce and she was loud and she was phenomenal, she was everything he needed and somehow knowing her ‘far away’ was something he could not even comprehend…made sense. And wolves could be patient, if they needed to be. Demon wolves especially.

* * *

Time had an odd way of passing, when there was a person-shaped hole in your chest, torn away and never able to heal properly. It felt jagged around the edges, every day for centuries. He never forgot colors, he always knew what the sky should have looked like, but as the world changed around him he had to stop relying on memory; things were so different with every passing year, every passing month and decade, that there was no use in it anymore. He was resigned to not knowing, the same way he was resigned to missing her the way one missed a limb. It seemed pointless to care about the passage of time, if it wasn’t going to bring him any closer to the only thing that could make him feel somewhat whole again.

The word ‘Tokyo’ still sounded strange on his tongue, despite him having been around ever since it was founded. But, if he was being honest with himself, all words felt wrong after he knew the pleasure of her name, that honeyed thing he missed saying every single day. He lived his life with sandpaper words in a world where everything was varying shades of grey, never knowing, but always hoping, that it would return to the technicolor of her.

* * *

A breeze, a bump of shoulders on the street, and there was the color of the sky. _Kagome_.

**Author's Note:**

> this fic would not exist without a very wonderful group of writers, who foster an environment full of nothing but encouragement and joy. it's my first writing endeavor in over a year, my first fanfic in three, and the first fic i've ever written for the inuyasha fandom in the 15 years i've been a fan. i literally owe this whole thing to the people this was gifted to and i am so so so happy i wrote it, and that i met them.


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